Jesus Among Other Gods: The Absolute Claims of the Christian Message [Paperback]

My only problem with the book (and why I deducted a star) is that he doesn't really get into other religions. Once in a while, he'll bring-up, for instance, Buddha or Sri Ramakrishna (a Hindu "saint") while giving a much-too simplified version of the religious tradition (though it is a fairly accurate simplification). I happen to be a Religious Studies major, so I'm more apt to be picky on such things. Altogether, this is certainly not an adequate treatment in comparative religious studies. If that's what you are looking for, I'd look elsewhere.

His main focus is to show you the "uniqueness of Christianity" (a la C.S. Lewis' Mere Christianity or G.K. Chesterton's Orthodoxy). In that respect, he does a good job; though, he's certainly not a Lewis or Chesterton.

For those interested in this book, I'd recommend checking out Peter Kreeft (a philosophy professor at Boston College). He's written numerous books (over fifty) dealing with Christianity. He writes for both the layman and the scholar (not an easy task) and does an excellent job. His website http://peterkreeft.com/ has several articles worth reading and audio files of some of his speeches.

Overall I found this to be a profoundly thought-provoking book. The author's defense of Christianity is plainly aimed at the Christian reader, but it is so deep and challenging that it forced me to address many questions that I had never thought to ask before. I think that this is a great book, one that I highly recommend to all Christians, and those who wish to understand what makes Christianity unique among world religions.

I understand that, in a pluralistic world, Zacharias' claims-which are essentially the claims of Christianity-will meet with a certain intuitive disapproval. This is, I believe, the natural response of a culture inordinately steeped in absolute tolerance and unthinking acceptance. To call oneself right and everyone else wrong is, to the modern mind, not only epistemologically arrogant but also, and perhaps more importantly, socially unacceptable. Still, Zacharias makes these claims, and he makes them with such lucidity and passion that they can hardly be ignored out of hand.

Moreover, and most importantly for the Christian, is Zacharias' call to live a life worthy of the gospel, worthy of the calling of Christ. If the book's main argument is correct, the Christian must dedicate himself wholeheartedly to the theological and evangelistic endeavor outlined in the bible. This is not to say, however, that all other belief systems are to viewed with condescension and disdain; in fact, by Zacharias' own account, the opposite is true: Christians have much to learn from other religions. Nonetheless, in the final analysis, the Jesus of the Bible is Truth-that is, he is all the Bible says he is. With this new knowledge, the entire world is called to make a decision. In its essence, this book beckons a decision to accept or reject the Jesus as revealed in scripture. Implicit in the work is another message: this is the most important that one will ever--or could ever--make.

Adam Glover